Rick Hansen SCI Registry

What is the Rick Hansen SCI Registry?

There are 30 sites* – major Canadian acute care and rehabilitation hospitals – that collect patient data for the Registry. In addition, international collaborations have been established in China, New Zealand and Israel.

This registry links clinicians, researchers, and health care administrators with the goal of improving both research and clinical practice for individuals with SCI. The registry helps to facilitate the translation of research into clinical practice and to promote evidence-based practices.

To learn more about RHSCIR, we encourage you to peruse this section using the links in the right hand column. Your comments, questions and feedback are welcome. Please contact us.

RHSCIR Reports

RHSCIR Reports are detailed analyses of some of the clinical and demographic data obtained from RHSCIR. Each report, released annually, outlines observed trends in the traumatic spinal cord injury population like the age distributions, level and mechanism of injury, where people go after injury to receive treatment, the duration of their hospital stay, and secondary complication information.

There are over 6,700 individuals with traumatic SCI participating in the Registry.

The Registry is located in 15 major cities across Canada.

How many people sustain a traumatic SCI each year? What was the cause of their injury and how severe was it? What treatments result in better outcomes? What piece of equipment will have the greatest impact on a patient's recovery?

Ideally, every researcher, clinician and healthcare administrator would have access to this type of information. Questions like these are the reason that the Rick Hansen SCI Registry was established.

By collecting a person's demographic information (age, date of injury, sex, location, etc.) and clinical data (level and type of injury, admission and discharge dates, complications etc.), it enables researchers and healthcare providers to answer critical questions about care including evaluating how their patients are being treated and help identify how to improve SCI care at their facility.

With a condition that varies as much as SCI does from person to person, data platforms and registries are one of the only ways to study the many variations and complications and outcomes of such an infrequent, high-cost medical condition across a dispersed population like Canada's. Without such research, there is no way to know how to improve care or bring new therapies into practice.

* In July 2015, the two RHSCIR rehab facilities in Montreal merged under the same administrative body: Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du Centre-sud de l'Île-de-Montréal (CCSMTL).